Sahara: Polisario leaders incensed against Ana Palacio

The Polisario leaders are incensed against Ana Palacio, former Spanish Foreign Minister, who has debunked their new strategy to resort to foreign courts to lodge complaints against Morocco to undermine the UN efforts in the Sahara issue.

“It is necessary to question the new aggressive campaign of the Polisario Front, which is trying to torpedo the process initiated by the United Nations to reach a political solution to this dispute that has been going on for four decades,” said Ana Palacio, currently member of the Spanish Council of State. She is also lecturer at the US Georgetown University.

The former Spanish Foreign Minister also pointed the finger at Algerian officials for their role in the Polisario’s new campaign, given their total control of the separatist front, headquartered in the Tindouf camps, in Algeria.

“A solution to the Sahara conflict can only be reached if all parties – particularly the Polisario Front and Morocco, but also neighboring countries, mainly Algeria – engage on this path,” stressed Ana Palacio.

After an on-site visit to Laâyoune that she described as “a dynamic city that emerged during the Spanish post-colonial era”, Ana Palacio assured that the activities of the Moroccan phosphate group, OCP, in the Sahara represent only 6% of its activities, and only 1.6% of the phosphate reserves it controls.

Ana Palacio’s testimony sweeps away the Polisario’s claims over alleged plundering of the Sahara resources, while the bulk of phosphate reserves is found in central Morocco.

It is obvious that such details stick in the throat of the Polisario leaders and Algerian rulers, since they debunk many of the mystifications they kindle.